Six Pilgrims from Yathrib

Six Pilgrims from Yathrib:

These six men from the Khazraj tribe of Yathrib were Asad bin Zurara, Auf bin Harith bin Rifaa (Auf bin Ifra’a), Rafi bin Malik bin Ailan, Qatba bin Amir Hadida, Uqba bin Nabi, and Jabir bin Abdullah bin Riqab. They had come along with other pilgrims from Yathrib to Makkah in the eleventh year of the Prophet’s mission. Yathrib was also home to some Jewish tribes, and occasionally disputes would flare up between the Arabs and Jews. The Jewish minority would intimmidate the Arabs by saying soon a prophet would be sent to lead the Jews into battle. The Arabs, they claimed, would be slaughtered like the people of Aad and Iram. These six pilgrims were sitting together in Mina (just outside Makkah) one night when the Prophet passed by. He approached them and asked, “Who are you?”

“We belong to the Khazraj,” they answered. “Allies of the Jews,” the Prophet commented. They replied in the affirmative. “Let us sit together and talk,” the Prophet suggested. He spoke to them about Islam, recited some verses of the Qur’an, and invited them to believe in Alllah, the One, the Exalted.

The men sitting with the Prophet recognised who he was. “This is the same prophet the Jews constantly threaten us with. Let us pledge allegience to him before they do.” All six men accepted Islam. “We left our people in such a plight,” they said. “If Allah unites us through you, you would be honoured more than anyone else among us.” The six new Muslims promised that they would invite their people to Islam upon returning to Yathrib, and that they would meet the Prophet during the next pilgrimage.